Bonds

JohnWinder

 As you'll be holding for the long term, a few percent lost in the early years will soon become insignificant

No need to wonder, we can see the effect by using an online compound interest calculator. An investment returning 4%/year, but starting off 5% down compared another, finishes up after 20 years with a 9% shorfalll in gains. 
To put that into perspective, if the same investment costs you 1% in fees each year (and there are plenty cosing more) compared with one charging you 0.3%/year, you have a 13% shortfall in gains.
Costs matter over long periods.

tebbins

As your original portfolio was more like 20% bonds, that would correspond with the next risk level up such as VLS 80, HSBC Dynamic.
Great article comparing multi-asset/funds of funds here: https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

aroominyork

tebbins said:

As your original portfolio was more like 20% bonds, that would correspond with the next risk level up such as VLS 80, HSBC Dynamic.
Great article comparing multi-asset/funds of funds here: https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

I am surprised that only VLS hedges global bonds. Since these types of funds are attractive to steady-as-she-goes investors, hedged bonds would surely be more appropriate.

tebbins

aroominyork said:

tebbins said:

As your original portfolio was more like 20% bonds, that would correspond with the next risk level up such as VLS 80, HSBC Dynamic.
Great article comparing multi-asset/funds of funds here: https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

I am surprised that only VLS hedges global bonds. Since these types of funds are attractive to steady-as-she-goes investors, hedged bonds would surely be more appropriate.

Could always build your own using the 100% equity fund of your choosing and then add in property/infrastructure/commodities/inflation linked as you see fit, and one of Vanguard's hedged global bond funds - personally I don't see any point holding the low or negative yielders such as Euro area/Japan when you can get yield + equivalent credit rating + the same hedging + similar duration with Vanguard's hedged US government bond fund.

masonic

tebbins said:

As your original portfolio was more like 20% bonds, that would correspond with the next risk level up such as VLS 80, HSBC Dynamic.
Great article comparing multi-asset/funds of funds here: https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

I don't know about others, but I was surprised by that, given the 5/10 risk determination and the fact that the average investor would be closer to 60:40 or even 40:60.

masonic

aroominyork said:

tebbins said:

As your original portfolio was more like 20% bonds, that would correspond with the next risk level up such as VLS 80, HSBC Dynamic.
Great article comparing multi-asset/funds of funds here: https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

I am surprised that only VLS hedges global bonds. Since these types of funds are attractive to steady-as-she-goes investors, hedged bonds would surely be more appropriate.

I don't believe the likes of CGT or PAT hedge either.

aroominyork

tebbins said:

aroominyork said:

tebbins said:

As your original portfolio was more like 20% bonds, that would correspond with the next risk level up such as VLS 80, HSBC Dynamic.
Great article comparing multi-asset/funds of funds here: https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

I am surprised that only VLS hedges global bonds. Since these types of funds are attractive to steady-as-she-goes investors, hedged bonds would surely be more appropriate.

Could always build your own using the 100% equity fund of your choosing and then add in property/infrastructure/commodities/inflation linked as you see fit, and one of Vanguard's hedged global bond funds - personally I don't see any point holding the low or negative yielders such as Euro area/Japan when you can get yield + equivalent credit rating + the same hedging + similar duration with Vanguard's hedged US government bond fund.

Sure you could, but that's a different issue. For people who have no idea how to compare government bonds, and no desire to learn, I would expect a mainstream (not niche) multi-asset index fund to hedge its overseas govt bonds - wouldn't you?

aroominyork

ChainsawCharlie said:

This fund is the one I hate the most in my portfolio 
IFSL Marlborough Special Sits P Acc original investment £5500
Lost £570 in the first week  and over the last 4 months has just sat there doing nothing with this loss varying by only a few quid per day up and down

It's actually done OK. It's a UK smaller companies fund and has only slightly underperformed its sector over the last year. I have about 8% of my equities in UK smaller companies and am not fazed by the sector taking a hit - I have faith it will recover.

eskbanker

ChainsawCharlie said:

Keepers below

Vanguard FTSE Dev Wld ex-UK Eq Idx £ Acc

Vanguard FTSE 250 UCITS ETF

Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% Equity A Acc

New addition

Fidelity Investment Multi asset Allocator Growth Fund Asset Allocator.

What's wrong with just going with one of the multi-asset funds (and nothing else)?  In other words, if you have a rationale for adding others, what is it?

tebbins

ChainsawCharlie said:

This fund is the one I hate the most in my portfolio 
IFSL Marlborough Special Sits P Acc original investment £5500
Lost £570 in the first week  and over the last 4 months has just sat there doing nothing with this loss varying by only a few quid per day up and down

Again you are judging a fund by its performance over a very short period. I strongly suggest you stop doing that, stop over-analysing short-term behaviour. It's like going on holiday somewhere when the weather happened to be awful and saying "this place is awful" without looking at long term weather/climate data or the wider attractions. It's like judging a Christmas Cake by how quickly it baked over a single minute out of a recommended 3h bake time in the recipe. Short term price movements have next to nothing too do with the quality of a fund, its future returns, or its appropriateness and suitability for a given investor.